Desideria actually believed that. He’d been nice to her and that after her mother had tried to harm him and she’d gotten him shot. “I’m so sorry, Caillen.”
“Yeah, don’t be. It is what it is. I just don’t understand people who are cruel without justification. People who try to tear down someone over petty nothings.” He leaned his head back as he reached for a small bag of food. There was something boyish in his manner. Something that belied the ferocity and power. The more she was around him, the less threatening he appeared.
Weird. Very weird. She knew he could kill her and yet, she liked being with him.
She licked her suddenly dry lips as a wave of desire ripped through her. “I admire that about you though. I think it’s a great thing you can’t understand that kind of cruelty.”
Caillen paused as he realized what she was saying to him. The tender look she gave him made his heart speed up as a part of his anatomy jerked to life and wanted something a little more intimate than this chat. “You admire me?”
She raked a playful glance over his body that sent chills through him. “Don’t let that go to your head. If it grows any bigger, we’ll have to find a larger place to hide just to accommodate it.”
He laughed and that amazed him most of all. He’d never been able to laugh about Teratin’s PMS until now. Not even Shahara had ever been able to cheer him on the topic. Anytime her name came up, he went into a fume for days. Yet Desideria had done the impossible. “So are you another deranged woman out to ruin a man over forgetting your birthday?”
She picked at her food in a dainty way that was incongruous with her tough aura. He didn’t know why, but there was something about her right now that was almost vulnerable. Something that called out to him and made him want to brush his hand through her hair and taste those moist lips and sample other, more lush parts of her body.
But she wouldn’t welcome that and he would die before he ever pressed himself on any female. He only proceeded when they were jumping on him.
And yet it was hard to sit here and not do anything when she was so close to him that all he had to do was reach out and touer. Oh to have the ability and right to close the distance between them and kiss those gorgeous lips. Damn. The more he was around her, the more he wanted her. It was slowly driving him crazy.
She glanced at him again, then stared at a space by his side. “Birthdays are unimportant to my people.”
“Because you celebrate accomplishments?”
She nodded. “Being born is a state of the natural order. Why should you celebrate something that happens to everyone and everything?”
That was harsh and it made him glad he wasn’t a Qill. While he might not care about them as an adult, some of his best memories of childhood had been his sisters decorating their small house with signs they’d made for him. Of Shahara bringing him a small treat whenever she could. It was why he didn’t sweat when people ignored it. Don’t stab me in the back and we’re all good. “Your people are seriously screwed up.”
She arched a brow at him. “Like yours aren’t?”
“Oh, I never said they weren’t. We invent other ways to be total assholes to each other.”
She laughed, then sobered. “It wasn’t all bad though. Unlike my sisters, when I was little, my father would sneak gifts to me on my birthday and he always remembered the date.”
He caught the way her voice softened as she spoke about her dad. It was obvious she loved the man. “That was nice of him.”
“You have no idea.”
Desideria fell silent as a surreal out-of-body experience came over her. She was sharing stories of her past with Caillen like he was an old friend. More than that, she became aware of how much physical pain he had to be in from his injuries and yet he managed to tease and not snap at her. He never took his emotions out on her.
Poor baby. And she appreciated his control. It meant a lot to her that he was being pleasant when he had no reason to.
She leaned forward and wiped at the blood on his bruised forehead. “Do you ever have a fight where you don’t bleed?”
“All the time.”
She held her hand so that he could see how much damage he’d done to himself with his latest run-in with the mugger. “Not since I’ve met you.”
He gave her a napkin to wipe her hand on. “Yeah, you’re like an unlucky charm for me.”
Feigning indignation, she tossed the bloodied cloth at him. “You need to be nicer to me. Remember I’m the one who tends your wounds.”
“Uh-huh. And if you’re true to your gender, you’ll salt it anyway and kick me in the teeth on your way out the door.”
She scowled at him as her humor fled. He was serious with that comment. “Why would you say that?”
He cleaned away the remnants of his food. “Simple. Women only want to jump my bones or take my money. Outside of the bedroom, they don’t really think that much of me and most of them are only after a quick take.”
“Your sisters aren’t like that. They love you.”